OHIO CAMARO ENTHUSIASTS/OWNERS REPORT HERE

[EarliestMemory]

Well, I gave 'im a good looking over, and no swirls or scratches as far as I could tell. But the whole spray-mask problem highlighted another problem: my stripes don't seem to be holding up well - what I first noticed with the spray, was not all the spray. The stripes seem to be discoloring - I posted pictures here about it. Hopefully I'll be able to get them replaced under warranty.

[GC-Camaro]

[SilverIceman]

Way too quiet today, so let's start something.

I got my "service bulletin" done Tuesday at Frank Z along with my first oil change (free thanks to Adam). Took them an hour and a half. I examined the whole vehicle before I left knowing someone was probably rubbing their greasy clothes, etc all over the car. Not too bad. Lots of greasy fingerprints.

I did my clay bar thing last weekend prior to the big wax job. Damn, hope I didn't use too much pressure. Didn't have to as the surface was pretty clean and smooth.

I've concluded my car's biggest enemy is me! I put the first scratch on it when mounting the rear license plate. And just put the first ding in the hood while I was waxing it. The plastic jar slipped out of my wax covered hands and bounced all over the hood. Now I can see a micro-ding where it hit. Nobody else will see it, but I know exactly where it is and it shouts at me every time I look at it "Look at me you idiot!"
Good thing the jar was plastic. Once I get a real ding on the car, that one will suddenly disappear.

Next up will be some window tinting. Still deciding on whether to do the legal 50% or go for the 35% on the sides. Any thoughts out there? Will I regret the 50% or will I get tickets with the 35%? Definitely will do 35% on the back . I will be scheduling that to be done Monday the 12th.

It's tucked away under it's covers right now, but can't wait to get out and play again. Some guys at work are going to Kil Kare tonight to run the 1/4 in their cars for fun (just regular sedan type cars). They've been riding me to go too. Really tempting but I think I'll wait just a little longer. I haven't really even nailed the car yet. Need to find a lonely stretch of country road and get more familiar with how it feels above 5 grand. I don't want an audience for that.

[SilverIceman]

Forgot this one.

Those of us that got Silver paint, guess we follow the trends:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091001/...s_paint_colors

I don't think dark greys should be grouped with silver. Remember when green was popular? Can't believe it was number 1 in 1994.

[CamaroSS_LS3]

Originally Posted by SilverIceman

Way too quiet today, so let's start something.

I got my "service bulletin" done Tuesday at Frank Z along with my first oil change (free thanks to Adam). Took them an hour and a half. I examined the whole vehicle before I left knowing someone was probably rubbing their greasy clothes, etc all over the car. Not too bad. Lots of greasy fingerprints.

I did my clay bar thing last weekend prior to the big wax job. Damn, hope I didn't use too much pressure. Didn't have to as the surface was pretty clean and smooth.

I've concluded my car's biggest enemy is me! I put the first scratch on it when mounting the rear license plate. And just put the first ding in the hood while I was waxing it. The plastic jar slipped out of my wax covered hands and bounced all over the hood. Now I can see a micro-ding where it hit. Nobody else will see it, but I know exactly where it is and it shouts at me every time I look at it "Look at me you idiot!"
Good thing the jar was plastic. Once I get a real ding on the car, that one will suddenly disappear.

Next up will be some window tinting. Still deciding on whether to do the legal 50% or go for the 35% on the sides. Any thoughts out there? Will I regret the 50% or will I get tickets with the 35%? Definitely will do 35% on the back . I will be scheduling that to be done Monday the 12th.

It's tucked away under it's covers right now, but can't wait to get out and play again. Some guys at work are going to Kil Kare tonight to run the 1/4 in their cars for fun (just regular sedan type cars). They've been riding me to go too. Really tempting but I think I'll wait just a little longer. I haven't really even nailed the car yet. Need to find a lonely stretch of country road and get more familiar with how it feels above 5 grand. I don't want an audience for that.

Hmmm I must really be abusing my car. Ever since I passed 1500 miles I hammer on mine at least once each day I drive it, take it to 6500 RPM between shifts. Break the law in less than 5 seconds.

You a better man than me, I cannot resist the temptation to dive it like it was built to be driven. It is a hot rod so I hot rod it.

[EarliestMemory]

Originally Posted by SilverIceman

Way too quiet today, so let's start something.

I got my "service bulletin" done Tuesday at Frank Z along with my first oil change (free thanks to Adam).

I got mine done when I took my car back to the body shop for spray mask removal.

Originally Posted by SilverIceman

I've concluded my car's biggest enemy is me!

LOL You KNOW that's true in my case!

Originally Posted by SilverIceman

Some guys at work are going to Kil Kare tonight to run the 1/4 in their cars for fun (just regular sedan type cars). They've been riding me to go too. Really tempting but I think I'll wait just a little longer. I haven't really even nailed the car yet. Need to find a lonely stretch of country road and get more familiar with how it feels above 5 grand. I don't want an audience for that.

Awwww, take it out there and go have some fun! I ran mine with <1000 miles on it. And yeah, did some stupid things like shift into 5th instead of 3rd one time, took me a couple tries to get it staged right the first time... thing is, when you're in the car ready to go down the track (and going), you don't notice anything else but the car and what you're doing. It's way fun! And I was very happy when I ran the 1/4 in 1 second more than the advertised time - me, who'd never dragged before. Try it, there's only a few weeks before they close!

[SilverIceman]

Originally Posted by EarliestMemory

Awwww, take it out there and go have some fun! I ran mine with <1000 miles on it. And yeah, did some stupid things like shift into 5th instead of 3rd one time, took me a couple tries to get it staged right the first time... thing is, when you're in the car ready to go down the track (and going), you don't notice anything else but the car and what you're doing. It's way fun! And I was very happy when I ran the 1/4 in 1 second more than the advertised time - me, who'd never dragged before. Try it, there's only a few weeks before they close!

Thanks, but I also had other plans for tonight. I'll have to get out there before they close. I'm sure I can get one of these guys at work to go back again.

Hmmm I must really be abusing my car. Ever since I passed 1500 miles I hammer on mine at least once each day I drive it, take it to 6500 RPM between shifts. Break the law in less than 5 seconds.

I plan to, but was waiting to hit that 1500 mile mark. I'm close enough.

[CamaroSS_LS3]

Originally Posted by SilverIceman

Thanks, but I also had other plans for tonight. I'll have to get out there before they close. I'm sure I can get one of these guys at work to go back again.



I plan to, but was waiting to hit that 1500 mile mark. I'm close enough.

I drive mine too much, i have over 5000 miles on it now and have only had it since late June. Again I can't resist.

It's a real hoot once you start rapping it out.

[IROCanSS]

I did my oil change my self. It was very easy.

I have a question... Is it possible that the clutch would have to "warm up"? OK sounds crazy but hear me out. It was warm (obviously) when i got the car and only drove it on nice days. Well I had to pick it up from the dealer on a cold rainy day last week and when I did, it almost seemed like the clutch wouldn't grab in first. I felt like I couldnt even drive stick. Did it for a while then seemed to be fine... So I started thinking the worst. I saw a thread where some guy smoked his clutch in like 3000 miles. So I take it to work today. 41 out when I leave the house, same crap for a while. I had to baby it in first to get the clutch to engage without chattering. Every other gear was fine. Now I wanted to try to just jump on it out of the gate and see what happened but by the time i had the chance, it wasnt acting up and didnt at all the rest of the day. Put over 100 miles on today and was fine after maybe 20 miles (only like 4 first gear starts). Is this normal? Anyone else with the LS3 who drove in the cold this morning notice this? My LS2 M6 corvette didnt do this...

[EarliestMemory]

Jrhaus, something doesn't sound right about your clutch. Granted, mine is a V6 and a daily driver, but my clutch has felt consistent since I got the car, hot or cold, after oil change, after sitting a few days. I would expect the same from the V8. You might want to post this in the transmission tech forum? Maybe someone else with an LS3 is more likely to see it there.

[IROCanSS]

Originally Posted by EarliestMemory

Jrhaus, something doesn't sound right about your clutch. Granted, mine is a V6 and a daily driver, but my clutch has felt consistent since I got the car, hot or cold, after oil change, after sitting a few days. I would expect the same from the V8. You might want to post this in the transmission tech forum? Maybe someone else with an LS3 is more likely to see it there.

I did post in the tranny forum and I asked Darin. He said he would have to drive it and didn't have any suggestions other then the obvious, have a GM tech drive it. I am going to play with it when i get home and see if I am just crazy...

[CamaroSS_LS3]

Originally Posted by jrhaus76

I did post in the tranny forum and I asked Darin. He said he would have to drive it and didn't have any suggestions other then the obvious, have a GM tech drive it. I am going to play with it when i get home and see if I am just crazy...

Check your brake/clutch fluid reservoir. Is the fluid a lite yellow color or a dark amber color? Normal is a lite yellow color. I have read where several people are getting clutch dust contamination in the fluid which is causing clutch return issues and other clutch issues. My fluid is a little darker than the last time I checked but so far no clutch issues.

[IROCanSS]

Originally Posted by CamaroSS_LS3

Check your brake/clutch fluid reservoir. Is the fluid a lite yellow color or a dark amber color? Normal is a lite yellow color. I have read where several people are getting clutch dust contamination in the fluid which is causing clutch return issues and other clutch issues. My fluid is a little darker than the last time I checked but so far no clutch issues.

I read that. Will be checking as soon as I get home. Whats odd to me is that it clears up... unless, when the fluid gets hot, it thins out and doesnt have the problem anymore??? Thoughts on that? I will check the fluid and report back.

[IROCanSS]

Here is a cool tid bit. There is a sticker on the passenger side frame rail just left of the engine if you are standing in front of the car that gives a date stamp of when your car started down the line.

I had a TPW of 8/3. If you check your calendar, 8/3 was "Civic Holiday" so the plant was shut down. My car has a date/time stamp of 8/4, 7:45am. My car was one of the first built on the day back from a long weekend! Completed getting built and shipped 8/5. I am on the fence as to whats worse a monday morning (or in my case tuesday after a holiday) or a friday afternoon car!